AUTISM and Music Therapy

[raymond_vacchino]

AUTISM and Music Therapy

 

A mother had two daughter's. Her elder daughter had died from leukemia and her younger daughter, Georgie, was autistic. After being declared "hopeless;" by her doctors, Georgie was put in an institution at the age of four. On a trip to Europe, her mother heard about a therapy developed by Guy Berard, a French doctor. Over objections from Georgie's physicians, she took her daughter to his clinic. Berard found that her hearing was so hypersensitive that even the slighest tremor brought on pain, and loud noises could throw her into fits of hyteria and agony. As aresult of her auditory reeducation, Georgie recovered and went on to develop normally. After graduating from college, the mother told her daughter's amazing story in the book (The Sound of a Miracle) and founded the Gergiana Foundation to use music and sound therapy to help other children with autism.

In a brain-damaged, blind, and autistic boy, it was found that when he was introduced to music therapy, he developed a remarkable memory for thousands of songs and also began to improvise jazz tunes. He could play practically any tune on the piano just by hearing it once. However, in other areas, he is deficient and had been classified by doctors as an "idiot savant."

His musical interest began at age two when his mother, alarmed that he had still not learned to sit, gave him a small electronic keyboard. She thought he might at least reach for it and learn to sit up. For the nexy six weeks it was unbareable. He played every possible combination of notes randomly over and over again. But one day, he began to play the first three notes of "Twinkle Twinkle"- the therapist went to him and showed him the rest of the song. Now, his gift is such that he can switch effortlessly among Bach, Andrew Lloyd-Weber, and complex jazz scats.

There are many other references to how "music" as therapy can affect children diagnosed with autism. However, with autistic children not all musical attempts made to influence them in a positive way occur! I have experienced that by having music always playing around autistic children, did not always calm them. But when intuitively beginning to "tone", by singing two pitches that resembled a foghorn, they stopped crying! In fact, they would often fall asleep. As well, this technique of "toning", often reported that after a few months, problematic colic disappeared and parents and patient neighbors found peace again.

The story does not end there. In a two year old boy diagnosed with autism, I recognized that his inability to process and prioritize sensory input, began at a very young age. He is know seven and, along with many other autistic behaviors, has a low pain tolerance to sound. He had been known to to curl up in a ball at the sound of street traffic or walk around the house with his hands over his ears, mumbling. He also had tantrums, which became so severe that he was put on medication. For nearly a year, he attended my workshops and I discussed ways to help this parent's son with sound and music. But when I tried singing to him, he told me to "stop singing." When I toned, he told me to "go away." Drumming was met with "no drum." Then one day, while reading an anecdote about colic and music, I had the inspiration to make the foghorn sound. The instant I began, he came over to me and leaned against me, his back to my chest, where sound resonates most. He reached around and gave me a big, knowing smile. I was astounded. I stopped and watched for his reaction, "More humming," he said. His mother put the foghorn sound to the test. In typical fashion, her son was unable to stop watching a movie until the he saw every last credit. He was singing along to 'My Fair Lady' when his mother said they needed to turn the television off. As her son began to get upset, his mother said, "Sam, its ok....(foghorn)....we have to go now...(foghorn)...we can watch it later...(foghorn)..." He calmed down. He still wouldn't let his mother turn off the TV, but suddenly began to tone with her. Then he said, "Hold me," sat on her lap, wrapped his arms around her, and whispered, "Hum with me." Finally, the mother was able to fast forward through the movie (previously unheard of), so they could watch the credits and turn off the TV!

 

Quote; "The doctor said they should try playing music to her,....

She could hear the tinny sound of the Mozart spilling

from Grace's earphones and she found a rhythm in the

music and worked to it, manipulating the wrist now...."

Musical Prescriptions (Nicholas Evans, The Horse Whisperer)

 

Musically Yours, Raymond M.Mus. (MT) M.Mus. (Perf.) A.Mus. L.R.S.M. Licentiate, AMTA (professional-status)